Turning Archive 2004

Subject:

splits along grain

Dave MacLuskie>After the chat last night (Thanks Terry!) I asked about some problems I've been having with some black walnut I've got. The tree was cut down 4-5 years ago and was fairly large. The sapwood is fairly rotten but the heartwood seems solid. However, I'm having some problems where the wood is separating along the grain.

First two photos are of a finished bowl. The split is highlighted in green. the blobby stuff is CA I used to fill the crack as an experiment, but had already turned the base off. It's a practice bowl that now holds my change and keys :)

The second piece is on the lathe. You can see white... mold? the dark color is thin CA I tried to get into the splits to hold it together. It doesn't fall apart. I had another piece that I threw down to see if I could break it off, but no good. It's solid, just... split :) I suspect this is a lost cause, but I don't have enough experience to tell!